Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

Preface
This volume of preprints, prepared for an international symposium on
Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice at the University
of Leiden, the Netherlands, 26-29 June 1995, contains the results
of work on historical painting techniques from all parts of the world. The
suggestion to organize such a meeting was raised during the symposium
on the Technology of Art Works from the Central European Region organized
by the Archives of Art Technology in Prague in 1993. The Prague
symposium emphasized Czech painters and their techniques. To broaden
the scope of attention, Erma Hermens of the Art History Institute of the
University of Leiden and Marja Peek of the Art Historical Department of
the Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science in Amsterdam
took on the task of organizing a second meeting in Leiden.
The purpose of the symposium and this publication is to promote a
greater understanding of the changing boundaries and interaction between
art historians, conservators, and conservation scientists working in the fields
of historical painting techniques-including wall paintings and polychrome
sculpture-painting materials, and studio practice.
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in historical painting
techniques. The study of the painting techniques and materials used
throughout history and in various cultures is by nature an interdisciplinary
exercise. In the past such studies were sometimes conducted with little
interaction between art historians, conservators, materials scientists, and
historians of science, because each discipline tends to present the results
of its studies to different forums. This volume aims to present different
approaches to the study of historical painting techniques in the hope that
it will encourage cooperation among these various disciplines.
Information about painting techniques can be gained in a variety of
ways, including the chemical or physical analyses of the materials found
in the paintings. Analyses of a large number of paintings attributed to
certain regions, schools, workshops, or individual masters can contribute
to a history of painting techniques. Analytical results can also help art
historians assess attributions and can support or reject their hypotheses.
The analysts, however, need the art historians to inform them about the
stylistic idiosyncrasies and significance of those schools, workshops, or masters.
It is often rewarding to see what artists have said about their own work
and to study their written sources on painting techniques. This kind of
information has come down to us in diaries, such as Neri di Bicci's Ricordanze;
in painting handbooks such as Cennini's Libra dell'Arte, in anonymous
recipe books; and even in model books, such as Stephan Schriber's
Musterbuch. These recipe books tell scientists what substances to look for
in analysis. Both scientific and art historical information help us understand
the significance of sometimes rather obscure recipes and tell us whether
the methods and materials described are common or exceptional for the
particular period. Today it is not unusual to find information from historical
sources incorporated in the examination of individual paintings.
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